For a Life
by Usami
Summary: /post series/ It was a punishment that was hard for her to take part in. But perhaps, ultimately, it was the one he most deserved after all.


Originally written for the LJ community **atlaland** _Mystery Fic Challenge_. Participants randomly chose two numbers between 1 and 20, and each number corresponded with a character. Based on the numbers you chose, you had to write a story where those two characters interacted. This was all I could think of when I got these two characters, but I think it turned out all right. Enjoy.

**For a Life**

Even trapped within the body beneath her fingers, it didn't take long before she felt the pull of the fluid responding to her touch. The water around her hands continued to glow, drawing the liquid to her will and allowing her to manipulate it with ease.

She ignored the golden glare she was given, hateful eyes that willed her away. Beneath her palms she felt resistance, trying to break away from the hold she had on his body. But in his weakened state, there was little he could do except continue to scowl at her until she was finished.

She knew this, of course. After all, she had purposely waited until he was this way, when the illness drained him of most of his energy that he could hardly move, before coming to heal him of it. She always waited, for she learned that this was the easiest way to do this, when he was unable to fight her.

It was becoming a peculiar routine, one that both she and the fallen Fire Lord unwillingly took part in. He would fall sick, afflicted with something the healers of the Fire Nation could not cure. And when his health continued to decline, Zuko would ask her to come and try her healing ability. She would wait until she was certain he was too weak to refuse her, before treating his ailment.

It was a strange feeling, knowing that _she_ was what kept him from death.

Water continued to flow under her direction, dispersing the cleansed energy throughout the rest of his body and flushing away the illness. Then the glow around her hands faded and she rose to her feet.

"We're done here," she said, her tone steady and her expression blank. "For now." She retracted the water into its pouch and turned to take her leave.

"Why…?"

She paused, glancing back at the once-powerful man struggling to sit up. Though she had alleviated him of his sickness, his body was still weakened from it and forcing him to support his upper body as he addressed her.

"Why…" he rasped, his body trembling with heavy breaths, "do you keep coming here…?"

She turned to regard him fully. "You were ill. It's my duty as a healer to treat you, that's all."

His golden eyes narrowed, a hiss escaping from between his clenched teeth. "You had… no right… _Water Wench_."

Her fists tightened as she met his scowl with one of her own. "You never cared about other people's suffering," she spat back, the truth breaking through with her anger. "Why should I care about _yours_?"

The man said nothing, and she didn't wait for an answer as she once again turned. Her feet swiftly carried her out of the cell, and she closed the door with a slam to secure the lock.

She knew she would be back, though. They had carried this out before, and she had felt his energy enough times to know that he wasn't giving up yet.

Trapped in the prison and guarded so heavily, his options of escape were minimal. But his pride, wounded by his defeat by the Avatar and surpassed by his own son, demanded a way out, and death seemed to be his only chance. With little else he could do, he forced himself ill to encounter death that way – not from the despair of a desperate situation or regret from his past actions, but simply because he felt too superior to remain where he was.

But his pride was also the reason she kept returning; too proud to admit to turning to death, leaving him unable to protest when Zuko called her time and again to heal him. And it was his desire for death in order to escape his position that ensured she would come, and continue to wash away the impurities of his mind that drove his body ill.

Because life – even his own now – meant nothing to him, and was easily discarded to fit whatever purpose suited him. For someone like that, who cared nothing about the value of life, death was much too lenient. And after everything, after all the pain he had put others through, she wasn't about to let him get off that easily.

**The End**


End file.
